Dolby to turn volume down on loud commercials

We can all relate to having been bombarded with an exceptionally loud …

Gone will be the days of relaxing on the couch while watching TV, only to frantically jump up and turn the volume down when a particularly loud commercial comes on. That's what Dolby hopes to avoid with a system introduced at CES last week, called Dolby Volume. The system introduces technology to equalize the volume accross TV channels, programs, and commercials.

Dolby says that the goal of Dolby Volume's aim is to deliver consistent volume levels by modeling how "humans perceive audio" to eliminate variable loudness in the audio stream. Dolby claims that the system does this automatically without any type of user intervention (aside from the initial setup). During the demonstration, Dolby's engineers said that the adjustments will be non-linear and that they will be able to process all types of audio streams without worrying about sampling rates. The system will be able to handle up to a 30dB in reduction or amplification. No word on what happens when watching an action movie or TV show with explosions or or other sudden noises that are meant to be loud and startling.

Volume-leveling technology like this is nothing new—some television sets, DVD players, TiVos, and even digital music players have a similar technology built in—although Dolby Volume appears to have improved on the process quite a bit. Dolby says that the system is able to perform these functions without generating "disruptive audio artifacts," and reporters who attended the demonstration said that they did not notice any sort of delay or drop in audio quality.

How much will this miraculous volume equalizing technology cost? Dolby won't say just yet, but claims that it shouldn't raise television set prices by "more than just a few percent." Depending on your definition of "a few" and how expensive of a TV you're thinking about buying, that means that Dolby Volume could potentially cost a pretty penny... or not much at all. The company hopes that television makers will be able to have Dolby Volume incorporated into their products by the end of the year.